Please Recommend A Linux Reference/guide 4 Newbies

[neuroshock]

Greetings,

Be gentle with me here, I know it's borderline sacrilige but I've been a Zaurus owner for a year and a half now. (Started with a 5500 and recently upgraded to a 6000.) I've learned a bunch and know my way around the Z fairly well, (flashing, kernel updates, successfully gotten GPS, Wireless, Ethernet, Modem, etc. working just fine), but the honest truth is; a year and a half later and I'm still basically Linux-ignorant.

I've survived by following others directions step by step but have never really developed a good understanding of Linux in general. (I don't even know how to make a sym-link) Several years ago I dabbled around with Linux-Mandrake and managed to get a bunch of good games set up and working including the then just released Quake3 and also Unreal Tournament and I even bought every game released by Loki games at the time. I bought and installed Word Perfect Office 2000 for Linux so between it and the games Linux met all my wants and needs at the time. Even though I ended up with a very functional system it was all very easy and everything was user friendly and installed without much difficulty. (Ok Quake3 and UT were a friggin' beast but I managed it...barely.) As time went by I became addicted to several games that would only run on Windows and was eventually lured away from Linux again.

My SL-6000L has changed my life, the way I compute, and my outlook on OS's. (Cheesy line but completely true.) I want to finally give the effort and time to learning Linux in depth. More specifically I want to learn about Debian's Linux distribution. I've been told that it's structure is different from Red Hat/Mandrake as well as many other things. My reason's are two-fold, I not only want to run Debian/Xqt on my 6000 but I also want to run debian on one of my Desktops. The fact that the Zaurii in general are built on Debian's framework seals the deal.

I'd be VERY thankful if you would take a moment out and suggest good learning resources and materials for a Linux newbie wanting to learn Debian inside and out but from the ground up. I will need to learn to crawl before I can walk and walk before I can run so if needed please suggest materials for beginning, medium, and advanced levels of learning. I'm open to any media type- books, links, manuals, CD or other online resources etc. I do not mind paying for books etc. as I intend to make this a serious investment in my personal learning and computing future.

Thank you VERY much in advance for your help!

-NeuroShock

[tapjpa]

There are 2 books I highly reccomend getting both from O'Reilly. The first and probably the better of the 2 is Linux in a Nutshell, the second is Running Linux both are readly available in most books stores as well Amazon and other online book stores. Another think I reccomend doing to get up to speed quick is download a CD based distro of Linux one of the most popular being Knoppix. You get the full effect of Linux but if you manage to really break something you just power down reboot and your right back where you started.
Hope this helps some.
Best of luck,

Jim

[soycap]

I like this one to learn the command line (text mode):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...576726?v=glance

You can get it for super cheap used.  If I recall correctly they have a section on the vi editor.  Not knowing vi was my biggest problem getting started with linix, because if you can't edit files in text mode your dead in the water when you need to troubleshooting or do anything without the gui running.

I don't see any reason to look for book that focus on gui tools, since they are so different from distro to distro and even version to version.  ... and if you can figure out gui tools on your own, you shouldn't own a computer (or even drive a car).

[neuroshock]

tapjpa and soycap,

Thanks, that doesn't help "some" it helps a lot! I'm following those leads as I speak.  Soycap, I think the info on vi will help me IMMENSELY as I have always been fond of the command line, and the basic things that I need so much I knew could be done from a terminal/command line but couldn't figure out where to start.

Please keep the suggestions coming, and if y'all can point out a place to find Debian specific learning materials I would really appreciate it!  I know Linux Mandrake has a CD bootable version similar to knoppix- does Debian have a similar product?  Also what Distribution is Knoppix built around?  If it's Debian based it might be just the perfect thing I'm looking for.

Again, Thanks a BUNCH and even though I've had some responses please keep ideas like these coming as your hard-won expertise is valuable to me and would help save me much time and confusion!

Merry Christmas All,

-NeuroShock

PS I can't thank you guys enough- it's very embarrassing showing how Linux ignorant I really am and while I've posted before on forums looking for newbie help this is the very first forum ever that I was not looked down upon, ridiculed, or simply ignored.  You have lifted my spirits tremendously by being friendly and treating me with dignity and respect.  This is the exact reason why I support and value the ZUG so highly.  I have never found an online community that is so helpful and friendly to it's new members and members who are less advanced.  You do the ZUG a great credit.

[Greg2]

I don't have anything Debian specific but I've used, and still use the following:
http://www.justlinux.com/nhf/Shells/Basic_...e_Commands.html
http://www.onlamp.com/linux/cmd/
http://www.icon.co.za/~psheer/book/index.html.gz

One of those is tapjpa's Linux in a Nutshell... I also have the book.

Oh, I almost forgot... and stop that damn double posting... hehehe

Greg

[tapjpa]

Knoppix is Debian based, sorry forgot to mention that as that was the main reason for recommending Knoppix.
Here is a link to it http://www.knoppix.net/.
They have tons of documentation, some great forums for help. Just click the "Get Knoppix" link to down load, you can use FTP, HTTP or Bittorrent to get it.
I recommend using bittorrent for the speed as it is a 700MB download.

Jim

[Pcghost]

If you get stuck while setting up your Linux desktop machine, be sure to check out
http://www.linuxquestions.org.  It is the largest Linux forum in existance that I am aware of (100,000 + users) and has quite a lot of Linux-howto's in the wiki and linuxanswers sections.

[donquixote]

Distrowatch provides very useful information for choosing the right flavour of Linux (I used it for making my choice).

I was seriously considering Debian but there were two detractors:

1. It's not up to date: they have a strong emphasis on a stable OS meaning older more tried, tested and true programs are available while other "bleeding-edge" software are not (at least in the stable release). This may have changed since the time I was looking into it (a few years ago).

2. The RTFM attitude that a lot of Debianites have. I understand that newbie have to ask dumb questions but they shouldn't be belittled for it-- sometimes one is so new they don't even know where or what to ask. So they ask and the only answer is: RTFM!! i.e. not very helpful. If you plan to use Debian and its corresponding forums prepare for some of these types of answers. This also may have changed (but I doubt it).

I ended up with a distro similar to Debian (Gentoo), but your mileage may vary. Please keep in mind that Gentoo was not my first Linux distro. I usually recommend Mandrake to total newbies.

Good luck!

dq

[nmos]

As for Debian specific docs try here:

Debian Documentation

FWIW I've only had my 6k for about a week but I can already tell you that Debian & X/QT combination rocks!